County to Spend $365,000 on Expanding Ranks of Political Aides

Orange County supervisors’ recent decision to add new political aide jobs now has a price tag for taxpayers: $365,000 per year.

At their March 3 meeting, supervisors voted 3-2 to create four new political aide positions for the auditor-controller and assessor.Supervisors’ Chairman Todd Spitzer joined Supervisors Andrew Do and Michelle Steele in expanding the slots. Supervisors Shawn Nelson and Lisa Bartlett voted against the plan.

This week, on Tuesday, county supervisors are slated to formally approve the job additions, which human resources staff estimate will cost $365,000.

Also up for approval is a lifting of the requirement that the upper salary range for political aides – roughly $54 per hour to $60 per hour – be reserved for employees with “outstanding performance.”

It’s unclear whether the lifting “outstanding performance” requirement will lead to other chiefs of staff getting pay bumps.

The expansion in the ranks of political aides comes after newly-elected Auditor Controller Eric Woolery requested the reclassification of an executive slot to a political aide after being sworn in this January.

Then-supervisors’ Chairman Shawn Nelson balked, saying Woolery’s job doesn’t require political aides. Only county supervisors should get those kinds of aides, Nelson reasoned.

Nelson warns that many of those political aides often get into trouble because of the odd nature of their job classification.

“It usually ends in a fireworks show,” Nelson said at the March 3 meeting. “Let’s not flick matches at a powder keg.”

Yet if county supervisors get political aides, Woolery figured, so should countywide elected officials. Woolery kept pressing over the past few months, finding an ally in newly-elected Assessor Claude Parrish, who also wants a pair of political aides.

The debate went public shortly thereafter, prompting a full review of just what political aides – officially called executive assistants – do for supervisors and other county elected officials.

Those kinds of slots have garnered attention for years, given numerous scandals with supervisors placing their aides into county bureaucratic jobs, often without formal recruitments. In addition, there has been much concern expressed about county managers’ inability to supervise political workers inside departments.

The most extreme case involved former Santa Ana City Councilman Carlos Bustamante, who was put into a high-ranking slot at OC Public Works and eventually ended up being charged with a dozen felony sex crimes involving female subordinates working for him.

Another executive aide, Brian Probolsky, who is an elected official with the Moulton Niguel Water District, was recently sanctioned (forced to take a few days off without pay) after failing to document his time off to attend water district board meetings and threatening internal human resources investigators with political retribution for looking into his timecard issues.

Probolsky took time off from his official duties at the OC Community Resources agency in December while under investigation and reportedly worked on the campaign of Supervisor Andrew Do, who won a special election to represent the First District in late January.

When he returned from his leave in January, Probolsky went immediately to work for Do.

Mark Denny, a former political aide who has served as Orange County’s chief operating officer since 2013, is leaving his county job on Thursday to take a position with the city of Dana Point, according to county officials.

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LOL,,,,This is what every registered voter who choose not to vote January 27 for the replacement Supervisors and or voted for those on board now and now those same BOS voted for the $ for Aides….More of the looking for the “Free ride” rather than actually work. I mean seriously Do’s Campaign person now wants a free ride for what picking up lunch?….There are more of 1 party registered to vote in OC, unfortunately they don’t vote and they are the ones that are the most effected and then criticized for every wrong going on in this county. So simple hint…next BOS elections how about every member of the other party VOTE! or even better vote for the most qualified and not because they belong to your party, OC is throwing money away on their government then blaming the residents county government is supposed to serve. Wake up OC, you’re doing it to yourselves; ENOUGH SAID

dc matthews

not enough money for services is a continued cry – and they want to hire their friends so they have more free time for election politics? or what? Not looking good for the county budget at all.

Steve W.

“Those kinds of slots have garnered attention for years, given numerous scandals with supervisors placing their aides into county bureaucratic jobs, often without formal recruitments.”

Norberto repeats this line in every story on this subject, and the only real scandal he can point to is Carlos Bustamante…who was never a board aide or a “political aide.” Someday, maybe the Voice can explain the obsessive focus on a handful of positions out of the what? 16,000 county employees?

Smeagel4T

Odd how you’d rush to defend the growth of government.

Kathleen Tahilramani

No shock here,,,,, Supervisor Do as he so eloquently stated, ” I want hacks”, now has his $365,000 dollars worth of hack.

I suppose Spitzer, Do and Steele figure that additional hacks are more important than – the homeless mess at civic center, saving the money for a rainy day, throwing a few bucks at much needed HR training, Contracts training, Ethics programs, EEO programs.

Oh and while we are doing damage – let’s hack in a pay increase for the new hacks.

The message is:
The poor can hack up their cake
Employees can go hack themselves
The sick can go hack up a lung
The taxpayers can hack into their savings to help pay for the hacks

Summary: Yet another hypocritical arrogant hacking move by our hacked up elected officials.

Paul Lucas

This is too much

astar2b

Supervisors must be overworked…

Smeagel4T

You just don’t appreciate how exhausting it is to have to attend all those crony capitalism bribery sessions… errr… ummm… I meant “donation dinners” all the time!!! Have a little sympathy, will you?

Smeagel4T

So which essential county services will they be cutting because “government is too big” after having hired these new people into government?